Villaronga New CEO at El Paso Teachers FCU

The $487 millionEl Paso Area Teachers Federal Credit Union named Max Villaronga as its new president/CEO.

Villaronga’s appointment is effective on April 28 and he will succeed Claudia Green, who is retiring after more than 30 years at the Texas credit union.

Villaronga has been president of the $43 million Alamo Federal Credit Union in San Antonio for the past three years.

“Max brings extensive operations and financial management experience to the credit union and we are excited to see what the future holds for our membership,” Art Alva, TFCU board chairman, said in Monday’s announcement. In other credit union career news:

EAST

The $380 million People’s Credit Union in Middletown, R.I., promoted Cheryl Costa to branch manager at its Portsmouth location. Costa joined the credit union in March 2013 as assistant branch manager in Newport after working in several positions with Bank of America.

The $2.3 billion Service Credit Union in Portsmouth, N.H., promoted Ana Foret to the newly created position of chief risk officer. Foret was chief internal audit for the past 10 years and prior to that conducted credit union audits for McGladrey & Pullen LLP. Service Credit Union also promoted Shari L’Italien to chief internal audit. She had been audit manager since 2005 and assistant manager from 1999 to 2005 and has been with the credit union for 34 years.

SOUTH

The $311 million Belvoir Federal Credit Union in Woodbridge, Va., named George Ksenics as its new chief information officer and Karyn Burke as its new director of human resources. Ksenics has nearly 25 years of information technology experience including 13 years in financial services. Burke is a graduate of the Western CUNA Management School and has nearly 20 years of management experience and 10 years of credit union experience.

The $1.2 billion Founders Federal Credit Union in Lancaster, S.C., hired Elizabeth Bagwell as vice president of internal audits. She is a CPA and most recently was senior manager of internal audits for Resolute Forest Products. She also had worked for more than eight years for Ernst & Young LLP in Greenville, S.C.

MIDWEST

The $1.7 billion Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union in St. Paul, Minn., honored Debbie Bruns asa Credit Union Builder through the Minnesota Credit Union Foundation. Bruns plans to retire in April after more than 20 years of credit union service in Grand Rapids, Minn. She served as branch director there for seven years and is credited with completing Affinity Plus’s first loan in the Grand Rapids market, which took place in a bowling alley. The credit union now has three locations there.

The $1.6 billion United Federal Credit Union in St. Joseph, Mich., promoted Mike Kambol to vice president of risk management. He had been director of risk and compliance and prior to that was chief financial officer at Notre Dame Federal Credit Union and had served in accounting positions at Teachers Credit Union, both in South Bend, Ind. UFCU also promoted Jeff Blake to director of compensation and benefits. He had been manager of compensation and benefits and had previously worked for Wright-Patt Credit Union in Fairborn, Ohio. Also at UFCU, Meg Johnson was named director of collections and loss prevention. She had been collections manager.

The $392 million Financial Center Federal Credit Union in Indianapolis promoted Jo Kiel to SVP for human resources, facilities and operational support. She has worked in financial services for 25 years, 20 of those with Financial Center. Financial Center also promoted Gina Johnson to director of human resources. She has been with the credit union for more than eight years, most recently as district retail sales manager in the main office.

WEST

The $2.3 billion Redwood Credit Union in Santa Rosa, Calif., named Lindsay Jones as branch manager of its Napa office. She has been with RCU for nine years, including the past four as Point Arena Branch manager. RCU also hired Meg Cadiz as its new nonprofit community program manager. She has more than 12 years’ experience working for local nonprofits, serving most recently as director of development for Lifehouse in San Rafael, Calif.

The $242 million CU Hawaii Federal Credit Union in Hilo hired James Takamine as its EVP. Takamine had been president/CEO of the $386 million Hawaii Community Federal Credit Union in Kailua-Kona. Takamine also has worked at American Savings Bank, First Hawaiian Bank, M&T Bank Corp. and the New York Stock Exchange. VENDORS

Card Services for Credit Unions in Tampa, Fla., appointed Vicki Hawkins, president/CEO of the $57 million Dort Federal Credit Union in Flint, Mich., to its board of directors. Hawkins has been with Dort for 28 years, including the past four in her current position.

myCUmortgage in Fairborn, Ohio, added four new managers.Susan Mears joined the CUSO as its mortgage compliance manager. She has more than 30 years of mortgage experience, most recently at Navy Federal Credit Union. Brian Murray was hired to the new position of technology manager and more than 16 years of information technology experience, most recently at Fifth Third Bank. Kim Fourman was hired as secondary market manager and has more than 35 years of mortgage lending experience, most recently as national pricing and product manager at PNC Mortgage. Kory Young was promoted to accounting manager after three years with the wholly owned CUSO of Wright-Patt Credit Union.

John Best, former chief technology officer and SVP at Wescom Resources Group, has launched a credit union consultancy named Best Innovation Group. BIG will help credit unions apply innovative technologies and create business partnerships, including with CUWallet and WRG, the technology CUSO of the $2.5 billion Wescom Credit Union in Pasadena, Calif.